Railroad-rail joint.



- P atentd Dec. 4; I900.

s. Ems nernnu. BAILBOA IL JOINT.

d pr. 2, 1900.:

' (No Model.)

Illlllillll UNITED STATES PAT NT Gretna SAMUEL E. STEDEFORD, OF ALLEGHENY, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILROAD-RAIL JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 663,243, dated December 4, 1900.

--Application filed April 2, 1900. Serial No. 11,272. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL E. STEDEFORD, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Allegheny, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Rail Joints, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in a combined railroad rail chair and joint, and is particularly adapted for use in supporting railroad-rail sections and securing the meeting ends thereof in alinemen t.

The object of the invention is to construct a railroad-rail chair suitably secured to the ties of a railroad-bed and adapted to secure in position, as well as support, a pair of railsections having interposed between the same an expansion-rail. Furthermore, the chair is adapted to secure in position a pair of fishplates, which are adapted to retain the expansion-rail securely in alinement. The railsections and expansion-rail are secured in position by means of the fish-plate, when ar-' ranged in the chair, without the use of bolts or other fastening means,which generally extend through the web of the rail-sections and fish-plates, weakening to a great extent the same, as well as in most cases causing the rails to become out of alinement, owing to the loosening of the bolts which extend through the web of the rail-sections and fish-plates.

The'inventionhas for its further object to construct a combined railroad-rail chair and joint which shall be extremely simplein construction, and strong, durable, and comparativelyinexpensive to manufacture and set up.

The invention finally consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter more fully described, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

In describing the invention in detail reference is had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and wherein like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my combined rail-chair and joint in position. I Fig.

Fig. 3 is aper- Fig. 4 is a 2 is a top plan view thereof. spective View of the fish-plate. perspective view of the expansion-rail. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the chair. Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 6 G of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings by reference-numerals, 1 and 2 indicate the railroad-rail sections, having an expansion-rail 4 interposed between the same. The expansion-rail has the head formed of a greater thickness than the head of the rail-sections 1 and 2, and the lower face of the head or tread portion of the expansion-rail 4 is provided with an elongated groove at each side of the web portion 6 thereof to receive and secure in position the upper endof the fish-plates 7 8, mounted at each side of the web 6 and so constructed as to engage the upper face of the base 9 of the expansion-rail, as well as the base 10 and web of the railroad-rail sections 1 and 2. The fish-plates 7 8 extend over the outer edge of the base of the expansion-rail section, as well as the base of the railroad-rail sections.

Mounted upon the ties (not shown) of the road-bed is my improved rail-chair for supporting the expansion-rail and railroad-rail sections, and it consists of a rectangular piece of suitable material 11,of a greater width than the base of the rail-sections and the bottom of the fish-plates. Each side of the chair is provided with a series of cut-away portions 12 to permit of the fastening means, such as spikes, engaging the upper face of the fishplates for securing the same, as well as the expansion-rail, to the ties; The sides of the chair are bent in such a manner as to form a series of clamps 13, in which are secured outwardly-extending projections 14, formed on the outer edge of the fish-plates. By constructing the device in the manner shownthat is, providing a series of clamps, as well as an eXpansion-railwhen the device is set up it willpermit of the necessary expansion and contraction of the sections, as well as socuring the various parts in the desired position.

In setting up the device the operation is as follows: The chair is placed upon the ties, the expansion-rail interposed between a pair of rail-sections, all of which are arranged within the chair as shown,the fish-plates then inserted, the same being secured in the expansion-rail, as well as the clamps of the railchair, and the sections, chair, and fish-plates secured to the ties. It will be evident that by forming the expansion-rail with agroove, as shown, and the rail-chair with clamps, when the fish-plates are engaging the railsections the former will be secured in position so that the rail-sections will be kept in alinement.

It is thought the many advantages of my improved device can be readily understood from the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and it will be noted that various changes may be made in the details of construction without departing from the general spirit of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a pair of rail-sections .of a railroad-track, of a railroad-railchair suitably secured to the supporting-ties of a railroad-track and adapted to support a pair' of rail-sections, an eXpansion-raii vinterposed between said rail-sections and provided with a pair of elongated grooves and mounted upon said chair, and a fish-plate mounted at each side of the web of said sections and engaging said grooves and said chair and adapted to secure said sections in position.

2. In a combined railroad-rail chair and rail-joint, the combination with a pair of railsections of a railroad-track, of a railroad-rail chair mounted upon the ties of a railroadtrack for supporting said rail-sections and provided with a series of clamps, an expansion-rail mounted in said chair between said rail-sections-and having the lower face of its head provided with a pair of grooves, and a fish-plate mounted at each side of said sections and engaging said grooves and said clamps for securing said sections in position.

3. In arailroad-rai] chair and rail-joint for supporting and securing in position the railsections of a railroad-track, the combination of an expansion-rail formed with a-pair of grooves in the lower face of its tread or top portion, a railroad-rail chair suitably secured to the ties of the track and provided with a series of clamps, and a pair of fish-plates provided with a series of projections engaging said clamps and having the upper end engaging said grooves,substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

SAMUEL E. STEDEFORD.

Witnesses:

J OHN NOLAND, N. L. BOGAN. 

